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Saturday, 8 May 2010

Bluebell Woods

We went to Dalkeith Country park this morning. We hoped for a good bluebell display and we certainly weren't disappointed! There were also wonderful spreads of celandines, wood anemones and even some cowslips.

The woods were full of birdsong, most wonderful to hear song thrushes (which are becoming increasingly rare) and blackcaps (which have one of the most wonderful songs of all woodland birds). From a bridge, we had wonderful views of swallows chasing insects and sometimes each other.

Part of Dalkeith Country Park is made up of a wonderful area of ancient oak woodland. We spent quite a while wandering round here, admiring the ancient trees and enjoying the wonderful atmosphere. At one point it was thought the woodland was doomed because no young trees were growing to replace the ancient trees (many of which are now quite falling apart) but in the last few years a lot of young trees have been planted and protected from the predations of cattle and deer so hopefully the woodland will continue to thrive for may years to come.